It’s time to BeReal.

Since early 2022, the photo-sharing app BeReal has become a popular social media platform among teens. The app will send a notification at any time of the day, and users are given two minutes to take the photo and “be real.” If the photo was not taken in those two minutes, the app labels the photo as late. This popular app has divided the population and brought up the question, “Is BeReal ruining the moment?”

Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook are all social media platforms that users can post photos on. BeReal is no different, and teens are starting to treat it like social media. Pictures are often posted on these apps of what was just happening, and by posting them on your story, they go away after 24 hours, similar to how BeReal works.

People are going to take photos to remember special moments, and the notification that says “It’s Time to BeReal” isn’t going to ruin a moment, because in most cases, people were going to take photos anyway. With the app being a daily occurrence in a lot of people’s lives, it doesn’t ruin the moment to ask, “Hey, do you want to be in my BeReal?” In some cases, it can be endearing because it means that the person wants to remember this moment and put the people they care about in the photo.

As someone who will ask to take a picture to remember the moment, BeReal gives me the perfect excuse to do just that, and it gives me an opportunity to ask during a time when I wouldn’t have asked to take a picture. For me, the pictures taken on the app tend to be some of my favorites.

Some people don’t like the fake aspects of social media with filters and edited photos. BeReal is a good app for those people because the app uses the front and back camera, and there are no options for filters or photo editing, only the option to retake a photo, but even then, BeReal will display the number of times it took you to take the photo. BeReal isn’t fake. Instead, it enhances the moment and leaves you with a cute digital keepsake to look back on.